Final project One of the biggest debates that I think is wrong with surface mining is that there isn’t much being enforced on how it is being done and nobody really knows a lot about it right now as far as what it is or what it is doing as far as damaging ecosystems and the environment goes.
One example of this is that surface mining didn’t start until in the later 1900’s as a means for coal miners to reach coal more effectively at a cheaper cost for less work to be done. Surface mining occurs on the tops of mountains and here in KY we live close to the Appalachian Mountains and they are always being mined and blasted for the coal that is found inside of them.
Because of the way this is being done their numerous problems for all the things that live in or close to the Appalachian mountains due to the constant mining that occurs there. Take the black bear for instance due to the blasting and the placement of the debris that is left over from the mining it has lost a lot of its natural food and it natural habitat due to mining. For another example is what damage it does to people’s homes and property is that due to the blasting or filling of valleys from what is left of the blasting is that homes are being condemned due to their foundations cracking from the stress of the blasting and the amount of stress put on the foundations of homes. Also another example of environmental impacts is that there is more flash flooding due to the filling of streambeds from the debris from the tops of the mountains due to the blasting and needing a place to put the materials that they can’t use from the mountain.
So they place it in valleys close to the mountains natural run offs and it causes them to be dammed and the water can’t flow down the natur...
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...ves some areas near mining sites have been becoming severely polluted due to the chemicals that are released by coal mining. Some of the effects that it can have is the dust from the coal can cause cancer and some people live off spring water and don’t have access to clean drinkable water because they don’t have city water in their areas. Some people are even being forced from their homes because their homes can’t handle the stress being put on them due to the blasting.
So many people are forced from their homes and have no place to go so they are forced to live on the streets. But there are acts being put in place one of them is known as the clean water act which was put in place in the 1960’s. Also there are acts for coal mining known as the conservation reclamation act. These acts help to insure that there are ways to help improve what is being done by coal mining.
Throughout this mining process a byproduct is created called chat. The chat is leftover rock and waste from mining that did not contained the desired materials. The chat was left on the site because the Bureau of Indian Affairs thought it could be of value to the Quapaw tribe (1). This chat contained high levels of toxic lead and other harmful chemicals. It is estimated that there are 75 Million tons (150 billion pounds) of chat piles remaining exposed to the environment as well as numerous flotation ponds that haven’t been taken into account (4).
Removal of the mountaintops causes environmental impacts from blasting. The blasting has caused rocks to be deposited into valleys on the hillsides, burying almost 2,000 miles of streams which feed the Mississippi River. Slurry, the residue which is used to clean the coal can wash into groundwater and may contain arsenic, lead, manganese, iron, sodium, strontium, and sulfate. A recent research study is beginning to link these environmental impacts to the grave health concerns in the Appalachian communities. During most of the Mountaintop removal mining’s history coal industries have been able to obtain permits easily to operate, but once under the Obama administration Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) those permits now take more time to obtain. The permit process requires all applications to be reviewed before being given out to coal
Mountain Top Removal is an American tragedy, the process in which mining companies remove forests and topsoil then explode the mountain apart level by level to get to coal layer. It is estimated that the explosives are equivalent of the Hiroshima bomb. A lot of the mining waste is discarded into valleys and streams; the water runoff is high in silt, ion, and sulfur compounds, which in turn pollute water downstream. Even with chemical treatments, vegetation has a hard time growing on the infertile and highly acidic soil. Mountain top removal occurs in eastern Kentucky, southern West Virginia, southwest Virginia, and east Tennessee. Virtually 1.2 million acres of land has been surface mined and more than 500 mountains have been ruined by mountaintop removal mining.
One of the biggest problems with working in a mine is the the health risks you are taking when stepping into a mine and staying there anywhere from 10-16 hours of the day. Miners of the Gilded Age, needless to say, did not live very long at all. Some of the diseases they contracted were black lung, Silicosis, and COPD. Coal Miner’s Pneumoconiosis, more commonly referred to as Black Lung, is caused by inhaling respirable coal mine dust. Silicosis is a more specific, but yet still commonly found in coal miners, version of Black Lung caused by inhaling respirable crystalline silica, such as Quartz, a major component in rocks. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, or COPD, is still common today in people who don’t even work in mines. COPD is a progressive disease that increases airway
Both the National Mining Associations, U.S News, Office of Surface Mining have studied environmental and economical issues and numerous newspaper articles found on the subject. Here is a brief overview on what mountaintop removal is. Mountaintop removal is a type of surface mining that has been granted a variance of approximate original contour and extracts an entire coal seam or seams running through the upper fraction of a mountain, ridge, or hill. The coal must be extracted by removing all the overburden [topsoil] and by creating a level plateau or supporting certain post-mining land uses.
5). The high mortality rates are related to the environmental exposures of the coal mining along with other factors such as smoking, poverty, education, age, race and sex. “Higher lung cancer incidence and mortality in the Kentucky Appalachia is thought to result from higher smoking rates and correlates of poor socioeconomic conditions which limits the population access to health care” (Hendryx, O'Donnell, & Horn, 2008, p. 2). The population residing in coal mining areas, are exposed to contaminated water and air from the coal mining and there is a concern for respiratory illnesses related to the pollutants. The fumes or toxin released from the coal mine, this places the individual at a risk for respiratory issues such as emphysema, black lung, brown lung and
The Ely copper mine is an abandon site located on the Vermont copper belt in Vermont. There are two brooks in the direct vicinity of the mine, the Ely Brook and the Schoolhouse brook. The Ely brook flows in to the Schoolhouse brook which eventually flows to the Ompompanoosuc River. During the Ely Mine’s operation, from 1850 to 1905, the mine produced between 13 and 18 million kg of copper (Briggs, et al., 2004). The United States was known as one of the top ten producers of copper between 1866 and 1881 (Briggs, et al., 2004). The site includes shaft and adits, roast beds, barren mine waste piles, flotation mill and tailings, smelter plant remains, smoke fue, and slag heaps all covering approximately 350 acers (Briggs, et al., 2004). In 1867
...f towns and cities that still exist today. In addition, the opening of mines created jobs which had a positive impact on the economy while the decline of mines led to a sharp decrease in population due to the lack of job opportunities. The era of copper mining also shows the powerful alliance that had formed between Michigan and Boston. Both Michigan mine operators and Boston investors had different kinds of resources that the other lacked. It can be seen that Michigan would not be the way it is today without outside influence from investors and interested prospectors.
Mountaintop removal can impact the local water table, it contributes to an increase in the level of birth defects and it has destroyed over 1 million acres of land. Mountaintop removal changes the quality of the local ground water that is available to a community. This is often seen in the form of an increase or decrease in the amount of minerals that are present. In turn, this can also negatively impact local wildlife, eliminate fish species, and create less animal diversity. And when it comes to the level of birth defects, very few studies have pointed out this potential link, the changes in mineral content and atmospheric quality where a mountaintop coal mine is present could also be responsible for higher levels of birth defects. If true, then is the need for cheaper, cleaner coal worth harming children? It is sad that we are so dependent on coal mining for electricity. Coal mining is a nonrenewable resource that is outdated. It produces high levels of radiation, and the coal ash that is produced during the process is a hazard and there is no way to dispose of it
What comes to mind when you think of coal mining? If you're like me, coal mining means living in darkness and a cold hearted industry. Other words that come to mind are poverty and oppression. Coal mining is not a job that you dream about or get a degree for. People who are coal miners do not chose a life full of danger and repression, they get stuck with it. There are many dangers that come along with coal mining, not only for the workers, but for the environment. Coal mining and the coal industry have caused irreversible damage to our environment and has killed innocent miners.
With the United States drilling off the coast of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico, totaling the May of 2015 census of oil rigs worldwide marking 213 of them being located in the gulf. With that many rigs being in the gulf there is destined to be spills of oil and natural gas. In the time between 1969 to 2010 there were 15 oil spills in the Gulf and the neighboring waterways. On the other hand on soil rather than in the water coal mining is also becoming a larger issue than what it was back in the 1920’s. While coal is produced differently than oil is the process that uses coal to produce energy has become more and more harsh on the global environment. Coal is, “formed when dead plant matter submerged in swamp environments is subjected to the geological
Though it has had many negative impacts on the environment in the past, mining is a vital industry completely necessary to our economy and lives. Nearly every item we use or encounter in our day to day lives is mined or contains mined products. Without the excavation of such materials things like computers, televisions, large building structures, electricity, and cars would not be possible. Virtually every technological and medical advance uses minded materials, without which millions would suffer. Some examples of minerals in the home include the telephone which is made from as many as 42 different minerals, including aluminum, beryllium, coal, copper, gold, iron, silver, and talc. A television requires over 35 different minerals, and more than 30 minerals are needed to make a single personal computer. Without boron, copper, gold and quartz, your digital alarm clock would not work. Every American uses an average 47,000 pounds of newly mined materials each year, which is higher than all other countries with the exception of Japan, which is a staggering figure representative of our dependence and need for mined minerals. Coal makes up more than half of nation’s electricity, and will continue to be the largest electrical supplier into 2020 & accounting for some 95 percent of the nation's fossil energy reserves – nine of every ten short-tons of coal mined in the United States is used for electricity generation. As the population of the world grows more mineral resources must be exploited through mining in order to support the rising demand for such products. Though it may present a hazard to the environment and those physically located nears the mines, the materials extracted from mines...
The benefits: Coal mining can benefit humans as well as it supports the economy in many ways. Coal mining provides a lot of jobs for local communities. It provides over 7 million jobs worldwide. Waste incineration units produce a lot of carbon dioxide gas, approximately around one third of the greenhouse gases. It also impacts people’s health as they get exposed to the toxic emissions by breathing in the air or consuming contaminated food and water.
Mining is the process or industry of obtaining minerals from the earth. Topics in this paper I’ll be specifically discussing are pros and cons of mining, structures of a mine, mining in general, California gold rush, diamonds in Africa, and comparison of diamond and gold mines.
In our days, mining for resources is inevitable. The resources we need are valuable in everyday life. Such resources mined up are coal, copper, gold, silver, and sand. However, mining poses environmental risks that can degrade the quality of soil and water, which can end up effecting us humans if not taken care of and many of the damages are irreversible once they have occurred.